Manny Pacquiao’s focus against Juan Manuel Marquez last November was simply “not there,” according to his trainer  Freddie Roach’s frank assessment of his legendary ward in a recent inter­viewwith the New York Times. “It was the first time in ten years we had a bad night,” said Roach. “We had a great training camp. But something was distracting him in that fight. I haven’t put my finger on it yet.” Roach estimates that Pacquiao probably has four or five fights left in him before he retires, and he thinks at least one will be against Floyd Mayweather, one of the most anticipated fights in boxing history. Pacquiao successfully defended his WBO Welterweight Title against Marquez via majority de­cision, in what was seen as a con­troversial win because Marquez appeared like the better fighter to many. The two fought to a draw in their initial meeting, before Pacquiao triumphed via split de­cision in their first rematch.

“We had a great camp but we did not have a great performance in the fight. I have to give some credit to Marquez about that,” Roach said. Roach, one of boxing’s most illustrious trainers, was the sub­ject of a wide-ranging interview by America’s leading newspa­per, touching on his Parkinson’s disease and the upcoming HBO series about his life, “On Freddie Roach.” But more questions were about Pacquiao than any­thing else. Roach explained that Pacquiao has difficulty with counterpunchers like Marquez. May-weather too is a counterpuncher. Roach said that like legions of boxing fans, he wants to see Pac­quiao fight Mayweather, saying, “I want it as badly as anyone. Hope­fully it will get made soon. Manny probably has four or five fights left in him and I’m sure Mayweather will be one of them.”

Mayweather currently has a scheduled May 5 fight date against an as of yet undetermined opponent, leading some to spec­ulate that the much-anticipated bout against Pacquiao could happen then. Roach however listed Lamont Peterson, Timothy Bradley and Miguel Cotto as the names Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has submitted to the Pac­quaio camp for his next fight, ten­tatively scheduled for June.

Roach said he is not afraid that training boxers will worsen his condition, explaining, “I’ve found that the hand and eye coordina­tion [involved in training boxers] is the best thing in the world for me. It’s funny but once I get into the ring, the tremors go away and everything is O.K.”

The HBO series that begins January 20 in the United States will show Roach interacting with Pacquaio, junior welterweight Amir Khan, middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and several amateur American boxers hoping to make the cut for the 2012 U.S. Olympic boxing team. – (Adrian Dy/OMG/HS, GMA)

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